John, doctor of laws, and bishop of Ely in the reign of Henry VII., was born at Beverley in Yorkshire, and educated at Cambridge. He was first made dean of Westminster, and afterwards appointed master of the rolls. In 1471 he was consecrated bishop of Rochester; in 1476 he was translated to the see of Worcester; and in 1486 to that of Ely, in the room of Dr John Morton, preferred to the see of Canterbury. He was a prelate of great learning and piety, and so highly esteemed by King Henry, that he appointed him lord-president of Wales, and afterwards lord-chancellor of England. Alcock founded a school at Kingston-upon-Hull, and built the spacious hall belonging to the episcopal palace at Ely. He was also the founder of Jesus College in Cambridge, for a master, six fellows, and as many scholars. This house was formerly a nunnery, dedicated to St Radegund; and Godwin says that the building being greatly decayed, and the revenues reduced almost to nothing, the nuns had all forsaken it, except two; whereupon Bishop Alcock procured a grant from the crown, and converted it into a college. But Camden and others tell us, that the nuns of that house were so notorious for their incontinence, that King Henry VII. and Pope Julius II. consented to its dissolution: Bale accordingly calls this nunnery spiritualium meretricium coenobium, a community of spiritual harlots. Bishop Alcock wrote several pieces, among which are the following:—1. Mons Perfectionis; 2. In Psalmos Penitentiales; 3. Homilie Vulgares; 4. Meditationes Piae. He died October 1, 1500, and was buried in the chapel built by himself in Ely cathedral.